Takeaways: Is Penn State football ready for Ohio State?

A homecoming game in front of a half-empty Beaver Stadium on a cold and rainy day makes it hard to find self-motivation. Add in the opponent is UMass, and one might expect a slow start. That is not what we saw Saturday as Penn State football thrashed the Minutemen 63-0 and moved to 6-0 on the season. How could what we saw against UMass translate to the big matchup in Columbus this week against Ohio State? Here are the 5 biggest takeaways from Saturday.

Daequan Hardy is a game-changer for Penn State

It has been a while since Penn State football has had a threat at punt returner. Nick Singleton had a kick return last season against Rutgers. Saquon Barkley had a few kickoff returns in his time at Penn State. Despite what we have seen on kickoffs, you really have to go all the way back to Derrick Williams to find a player that struck fear into opposing teams on punts.

James Franklin may have found his next game-changer on special teams in Daequan Hardy. The cornerback took back a punt for a 56-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the 1st quarter. He then added a 68-yard punt return touchdown towards the end of the 3rd quarter for his second of the game. It was the first time in Penn State football history that a player had two punt return touchdowns in a game. It was also the first time since 2013 that a Big Ten player was able to achieve such a feat.

Kaden Saunders has returned most of the punts for Penn State this season. But after what we saw from Hardy, it is time to make the change. Having a game-changer on punt returns that can flip a field or potentially score can be the difference between beating a good team like Ohio State or not. Hardy has always had the speed and was known for his punt return ability in high school, so the talent has always been there. Don’t be surprised if we see him trot out deep next week in Columbus.

Defense dominates…again

It may feel like this is repetitive, but the defense continues to dominate every single week. Yes, this week it was against a bad UMass team, but this isn’t something we have seen in previous years. Penn State would beat teams, but final scores would read more like 31-7 or 42-17.

This year, the Nittany Lions have been taking the soul from their opponents. That happened again on Saturday with a 63-0 shutout. The second shutout for the Penn State defense this season and quite honestly would have been three if not for a long run given up against Delaware.

The defense only allowed 109 total yards to the Minutemen, including just 9-23 for 45 yards through the air. This defense has been suffocating, and it is allowing Penn State to win the way that you would expect a good team to beat a bad team.

The first big test of the season will come on Saturday against Ohio State. The Buckeyes will be the best offense that Manny Diaz’s crew will have faced all season and a good barometer for just how good they really are. If the first six games have shown anything, it’s that the game in Columbus could end up being a low-scoring slugfest.

Penn State ground game finds success

Many fans have been wondering when the ground game will explode the way that we saw last year. While Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen didn’t have any of the 40+ yard touchdown runs in this game, the average yards per carry was higher against UMass than the first five games. Singleton carried the ball 15 times for 79 yards good for 5.3 yards per carry.  Allen picked up 68 yards on 9 carries good for 7.6 yards per carry.

While the long runs didn’t happen, it should be a positive that the two are starting to get their yards per carry up. Obviously, you can’t take too much from an opponent like UMass, but being able to get the running backs’ momentum heading into the matchup with Ohio State certainly can help. If the Nittany Lions want to beat the Buckeyes, they will need to establish the run early and take some of the pressure off Drew Allar.

Wallace makes impactful return

Penn State football has been missing its No. 2 wide receiver the last few games, and the offense seemed to suffer because of it. Harrison “Trey” Wallace III has really established himself as the best WR behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith. It started a bit rocky for Wallace on Saturday when he fumbled on the opening drive, which was the first offensive turnover of the year for the Nittany Lions.

After the initial miscue, Wallace made multiple timely catches and finished with 3 receptions for 44 yards and a long of 21 yards. He was the second leading receiver for Penn State behind tight end Theo Johnson. The Nittany Lions will need the young receiver next week against an elite Ohio State defense to take some pressure off Lambert-Smith.

A quiet Beaver Stadium

Penn State football had its lowest-attended game of the season with 105,533. The Nittany Lions had the highest average attendance in all of college football heading into the UMass matchup.

If you were at the game, you know that there were maybe 70,000 at most. This was sort of expected once the weather forecast was established a few days before that it was going to be cold and rainy. Pair that with a bad UMass team, and this is the result that you get.

The game got out of hand early, and for the 2nd half, there was maybe 25% of that number in the stands. The student section never even filled the lower bowl. I don’t blame fans. Who wants to sit in the pouring rain and watch a game that was over at halftime? It will be interesting to see what the atmosphere for the Indiana game is like if the Nittany Lions can pull off the upset in Columbus.

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